


Everything Has Changed

by mmmwddd



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Character Death but at the beginning then it’s mostly fluff, Dad Theo, Fluff, Getting Together, Life As We Know It AU, M/M, Slow Burn, dad liam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-06 09:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17343056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmwddd/pseuds/mmmwddd
Summary: “They named you two as the rightful legal guardians of Allie.”Liam couldn’t breathe.“Wait I’m sorry? Did you say us?” Liam finally managed to speak.“Like us together?” Theo askedORA Life as We Know It AU where Liam and Theo raise a child together after the death of their friends





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I randomly started thinking about the movie life as we know it the other day and then I decided to thiam it and now here we are.
> 
> If you haven’t seen the movie there are two major character deaths at the beginning. That’s going to happen in this chapter as basically set up for the rest of it but I promise it will get fluffy after this!
> 
> Even though it is an AU it’s essentially post cannon because it seemed more fun if they were still werewolves.
> 
> Not beta’d so if it sucks I’m sorry!
> 
> Title: Everything Has Changed - Taylor Swift

Theo Raeken was a constant in Liam’s life. If someone had told him ten years ago that this would be the case he probably would have laughed in their face.. or punched them, depending on his mood, but as time had passed it was something that Liam had accepted. This acceptance should by no means be misconstrued as Liam having positive feelings about Theo’s constant presence.

Theo had changed after hell, he came back feeling guilty about everything that he had done and wanting to be better, and over the past ten years he had been. Liam knew that and he trusted Theo but trusting someone and liking them were not the same thing. Just because he was no longer power hungry and murderous did not mean that he was no longer arrogant, sarcastic, and all around obnoxious with an apparent love of pushing all of Liam’s buttons. Liam could not bring himself to try and like the chimera but for everyone else’s sake he could tolerate him since he always seemed to be around whether Liam wanted him there or not.

Over time things had changed all around Liam but one thing that never seemed to was that Theo was always there. Ever since Liam had brought Theo back from hell he had been there. He had been there to fight with the pack against the hunters and after the older members of the pack had left he had still been around, not there all the time but he always came back to check in. When most of the puppy pack went away for college after graduation and Liam chose to stay and go to school nearby he thought that he would start seeing less and less of The chimera. 

Then in a truly surprise twist to everyone involved, Theo became close with Malia. And not just in a let’s be civil casual friends who no longer despise each other way. It seemed like all of a sudden Theo and Malia had become each other’s favorite people, as if overnight they had become laughing at jokes that nobody else understands, attached at the hip, Liam and Mason, Scott and Stiles level of friends. When asked about how it happened or when they even started speaking to one another they would just shrug and laugh, Liam was pretty sure that not even Scott had known how it happened. He supposed it made sense though, with Theo’s desire for power and murder out of the picture, they weren’t all that different and after a while nobody questioned it, it was just something that was a thing now. That realization then led Liam to another one, Theo wasn’t going anywhere. 

Scott and Malia were coming back to Beacon Hills after graduation while everyone else was planning on staying in their different parts of the country, not ready to return permanently yet. Liam knew that Beacon Hills was Theo’s permanent residence and that he would only be seeing more of him once Malia and Scott were back for good. 

Scott was one of Liam’s best friends, practically his older brother and he couldn’t wait for him to come back, so it was safe to assume that Theo felt the exact same way about Malia’s return. So it was around this time that Liam had decided to accept that Theo would be there.

And he was.

He was there with Liam to welcome Scott and Malia back to Beacon Hills and to give them a bottle of wolfsbane laced whiskey, leading to a loud and blurry night for all four of them. He was there to tell them when he got hired as an assistant at a local television station, and Liam had been dragged out to celebrate.

He had unfortunately, been there during a very pitiful attempt on Malia’s part to set Liam and Theo up on a date. Needless to say it did not go well. That still did not seem to be enough to rid Theo from Liam’s life.

He was there at pack gatherings when everyone was in town. He was there to celebrate when Monroe had been caught and arrested. 

He was there at Liam’s college graduation, next to Scott and Malia and he was there at the graduation party getting drunk with Malia, to the surprise of absolutely no one.

He was there to throw a welcome home party for Mason and Corey when they decided to return after graduating from college, it seemed that Theo had formed a friendship with Corey somewhere along the way as well. He was there on random weekends when they decided to go out to a bar or a club as a group, though he never seemed to be there for long on those nights, always finding some new guy to go home with for the night.

He was there when Liam got his first teaching job in the history department at Beacon Hills High School and Malia had insisted that the only proper way to acknowledge that he was willingly stepping foot back in that place was to take him out and essentially pour shots down his throat.

He was there at Malia and Scott’s wedding right next to Malia as her maid of honor because “screw traditional gender roles, I pick Theo.” Liam was also standing up at the altar, right beside Stiles because “I don’t care if you see him more now, Liam, I called dibs on best man when we were 10.” He was there to once again get drunk with Malia at the reception because “who gives a shit about keeping it classy, Malia? You’re the bride. You can do what you want.”

He was there in the waiting room of the hospital when Malia went into labor. He was next to Liam in the hospital room when Malia held the little girl in her arms and announced, “this is Allison,” and even though most of the people in the room had not actually ever met the girl’s namesake, everyone teared up, knowing just how much that name meant.

He was there last month at Allie’s first birthday party, with what Liam was pretty sure was everyone that they had ever met in attendance. Liam couldn’t even say that he disagreed with Theo when he told Malia that it was, “excessive as hell. She’s not even going to remember this. Save your money for when she has actual opinions on things.” Liam also couldn’t say that he was surprised when Malia responded with “you honestly think this was my idea? This was all Scott.”

He was there a week ago, on the worst day of Liam’s life.

Liam had volunteered to watch Allie while they went on date. It had been way too long since they’d had any time to themselves and he had told them to stay out as late as they wanted and that he had it handled. What he had not expected was for his phone to ring around 8pm with a call from his father telling him in a serious voice that he needed to get to the hospital. He put Allie in her car seat and drove to the hospital, trying to think of any not completely horrible explanations for why he was needed there. It wasn’t until he walked through the door and saw his dad waiting for him with tears in his eyes that his last shred of hope left him completely. 

There had been a car accident. 

Scott and Malia had survived countless horrors. There had been a dead pool, and Dread Doctors, and the Wild Hunt, and hunters and the Anuk-ite and they had survived it all. But as soon as there was a deer in the road and Scott swerved to miss it they couldn’t survive wrapping their car around a tree, they had died on impact. 

Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing, it didn’t feel real. He wanted to tell the doctors they were wrong, and scream, and cry, and punch something, and curl up in the fetal position. But none of that would fix anything. The only thing that he knew that he needed to do in that moment was call Theo.

And Theo was there.

He rushed through the doors, tears already forming in his eyes. Liam hadn’t been able to speak enough to give him the full story on the phone, but he knew that his own tear stained mess of an appearance confirmed all of Theo’s fears. He was in front of Liam instantly, strong arms wrapping around the beta as they both sobbed in the middle of a hospital hallway.

He kept holding Liam as Liam felt a burning in his eyes and a shift of power within him. He knew what it meant, next time he flashed his eyes they would be red. He couldn’t even think about that right now. He cried harder.

Melissa had moved away from Beacon Hills a few years back to travel with Argent and was not currently in town so when the question of who should temporarily watch Allie came up and Liam volunteered, Theo was there again, offering to help. Not wanting to yank Allie out of her usual surroundings Liam and Theo offered to stay at Scott and Malia’s house with her until everyone was back in town and more permanent arrangements could be made.

All week, Theo had been there.

And he was here now with Liam and all of their other friends currently trying their best not to fall apart, as they were surrounded by grieving people all dressed in black, having just come from the funeral.

“I hate this,” Theo said under his breath coming to a stop next to Liam and gently taking Allie from his arms for no real reason other than to hold her close. Liam could barely nod in response so Theo just continued talking as he began to sway side to side with the baby, “she would’ve hated this too, wouldn’t have stopped complaining about how everybody’s depressing chemosignals were suffocating her,” at that Liam cracked a barely there smile.

“I keep hearing all these people that I swear I have never seen in my life talking about how the service was beautiful and it’s sad but they’re in a better place now and I just want to scream,” Liam finally decided to speak. “The service was excruciatingly painful and who gives a fuck- sorry uh who gives a darn-” he quickly tried to correct due to the one year old in their company, “-if it was beautiful, they’re still dead and all this better place bull shit-“ censoring for baby ears was hard, “-is crap. They didn’t want to be in a better place. They wanted to be here with their daughter, so that they could see her grow past one fucking year old. They wanted to be with the pack- they wanted to be with us,” Liam took a deep breath as he finally finished his rant.

This time Theo nodded his agreement, knowing that saying something else would not change anything. At that moment Melissa and Derek walked up to them, Melissa immediately reaching out for her grandchild, giving them a small, sad smile.

“Guys, do you mind if I talk to you in private?” Derek asked them. They looked at each other, confused before looking back to Derek and nodding. 

Once they were alone in one of the rooms Derek turned to them, “so a while back Scott and Malia asked me to help them with their will in case anything ever happened,” Derek began. Liam just nodded, not at all surprised that Derek was somehow qualified to help with something like that.

“Did they ever talk to you about what would happen with Allison if they died?” Derek asked bluntly.

Liam looked at Theo who just shook his head and turned back to Derek and answered, “um no, I guess I thought Melissa would take her.”

“Yeah, I would have thought so too but-“ Derek seemed nervous as he continued, “they named you two as the rightful legal guardians of Allie.”

Liam couldn’t breathe.

“Wait I’m sorry? Did you say us?” Liam finally managed to speak.

“Like us together?” Theo added on, his eyebrows were practically in his hair line at this point, he looked as shocked as Liam felt.

Derek sighed and nodded.

“But- why?” Liam couldn’t help but ask. Before Allie was born Liam had zero experience with babies and he knew that Theo’s situation was similar. Scott and Malia had known that. Scott and Malia had also known how Liam and Theo felt about each other. They knew that the only reason the boys really spent time together was because of them so why on earth did this feel like a good idea to them?

“They wanted to raise her in Beacon Hills, they know it’s had its problems but it was their home. They also knew that not everyone would be so eager to come back. They didn’t want anybody else to have to come back here but it wasn’t just that. Other than Scott and Malia you two were the two most constant people in Allie’s life and you were also two of the most important people in theirs. They really thought this out. They even left you the house if you decide to do this” Derek finally finished.

“Wait- decide?” Liam asked

“Yes decide. Of course you do not have to do this if you don’t want to. Melissa will be more than willing to take her if you don’t want to.”

“So Melissa knows about this?” Theo asked.

“She does. Scott actually mentioned it to her when they first made the decision and she respects it but she will also understand if you feel like you can’t do this. You can say no.”

A part of Liam was tempted to do exactly that. He loved Allie and he had spent a lot of time with her but raising her was something completely different. Melissa would do an amazing job of raising Allie, Liam knew that with certainty. But he was their first choice, well- him and Theo, which really was something that he wanted to dissect but right now all he could think was that Scott wanted this, Scott thought that he could do this. He was almost positive that Theo would not want to raise a baby, especially with him, but that would be ok. He could do this, before he even realized it, he had his mind made up. He opened his mouth without thinking any further.

“I’ll do it.” If he thought that he was shocked to hear his own voice agreeing to raise a baby, he couldn’t even begin to describe his level of surprise when he heard Theo speak.

“Me too.”

“Wait really?” He asked, trying to hide the surprise in his voice.

“Yeah. It’s possible that even in death she’s still trying to fuck with me but either way this is what she wanted. Allie was the most important thing in her life and she trusted us with her, but she wanted both of us. If you’re in I’m in” Theo stated.

“Ok, um, obviously you’ll have to meet with people to get all of the legal stuff figured out and I think there will be a trial basis where a social worker comes to do check ins before officially naming you her permanent guardians but if you all are sure about this then uh... congratulations I guess?” Derek was doing very little to hide how skeptical he clearly was about this whole situation and Liam honestly could not blame him.

He looked over to Theo who now looked just as terrified as he felt about what they had just agreed to and in that moment he couldn’t help but think that maybe Theo being a constant in his life wasn’t such a bad thing.

Maybe they could do this.


	2. Chapter 2

When Liam and Theo return to the main room Liam is relived to see that the majority of the people have left, leaving behind pack members and close friends. Upon seeing them Melissa walks over, still holding Allie. She raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything yet, she doesn’t need to, they all know what she is asking. In that moment Liam starts to feel guilty. What if Melissa wanted to keep her? What if she had been expecting them to say no?

“Melissa-“ Liam begins hesitantly, not really sure how to follow it up, he’s extremely thankful when she cuts him off so that he doesn’t have to.

“It’s ok, Liam,” she says, giving him an understanding look. “He told me about it when they first made the decision. I just hoped that it would never become necessary,” there are tears in her eyes and Liam cannot hold back the tears that are forming in his own eyes as he responds.

“Me too, I’d do anything for them to still be here.” At this point both he and Melissa are full on crying and hugging with Allie in between them. They stay like that until they hear garbled baby noises and feel a hand on each of their faces as if she’s trying to wipe the tears away. They pull away both wearing sad smiles and looking at Allie. Then Melissa turns her attention to Theo, who looks incredibly nervous.

“I know we didn’t always get along” she begins and it is truly one of the biggest understatements that Liam has ever heard but he knows that Melissa is just trying to avoid bringing up even more painful subjects. “But my son forgave you and so did I. They wouldn’t have chosen you if they didn’t trust you fully.” With this she hands Allie to Liam and then she’s hugging Theo. After they pull away she looks at both of them.

“They chose you for a reason. You can do this.” They nod in thanks before she speaks again, “though I think that Derek and I were the only ones that knew about this so you should probably tell everyone else,” she says this before smiling at them and walking away.

Liam gets nervous all over again at the words but he knows that she’s right. He looks over to Theo who nods hesitantly before following Liam into the living room where most of the pack is already sitting. Mason walks up to them immediately.

“Hey do you guys need help with anything? I know you’ve been staying here for Allie but do you need help packing up your stuff or hers before she goes with Melissa?” This is why Liam loves Mason. He knows that Liam hates talking about his feelings and he’s making it clear that he won’t make him, while also showing that he’s there.

“Um.. she isn’t going with Melissa.”

“Oh is Melissa moving in here? That makes sense-“ Liam cuts Mason off before he loses his nerve. “No, um they wanted us to be her legal guardians if anything ever happened.”

“Who is us?” Mason asks hesitantly, as if he might already know the answer.

“Me and Theo.” The quiet conversations that had been happening around them stop suddenly and when Liam looks up he sees every member of the pack looking back at him. 

“I’m sorry did you just-“ Stiles starts to speak and Liam thinks that this might be the first time that he has actually heard him talk since coming back to Beacon Hills after their deaths, “-did you just say that they picked you and Theo to raise their child? Like as in together?” 

“Yep” Liam replies. At this point he is waiting for the onslaught of questions that he is already dreading but when he is met with nothing but more shocked stares he starts to think that the questions might have been better.

Finally Stiles breaks the silence. “Why?”

Before Liam can respond Theo cuts in, “good question. They didn’t exactly leave an explanation.” 

They are once again left in silence.

This time Isaac speaks up, clearly just trying to break the silence, “well... that is a uh- interesting decision-“ he pauses again as if he’s trying to decide if he is actually going to say what he wants to, “don’t you two like, hate each other? Wasn’t someone keeping a running tally at one point of how many times you punched each other in the face during one interaction?”

To Liam’s surprise Theo speaks up, “I wouldn’t say that we hate each other. We’ve just experienced some differences in opinion on well.. a lot of things that have at times led to one of us maybe punching the other.”

“Yeah but we haven’t actually hit each other in like over a year,” Liam decides to cut in, “Scott said we had to stop after Allie was born. Sets a bad example.”

“Solid argument. I can see why they thought that you should raise her together,” Isaac deadpans. Across the room Brett snorts from his spot next to Nolan, he tries to cover it up with a cough but it’s too late. Corey is also trying to cover a snicker and before Liam can stop himself he is laughing, full blown laughing because he can not fully believe the situation he’s in and he thinks he might be a little hysterical if he’s being totally honest with himself, but before he can be too worried about it he realizes that he set off a chain reaction and now everybody else is laughing too. 

He realizes then that this is the first time he has laughed since his life got turned upside down and it feels too soon and kind of wrong but it also feels really good, like maybe at some point he can have this again. Maybe, eventually, being here and laughing like this, surrounded by his friends will feel normal again. They’ll always be missing two of their most important pieces and nobody will ever forget that but maybe this awful feeling that has been in his chest since the moment he lost his friends will lessen. His life is about to change drastically but maybe it doesn’t have to be all bad.

It seems like everyone else in the room are having the same thoughts as he is because as the laughter dies down they all seem to look around the room, almost guiltily, like they know they shouldn’t be laughing this soon after such an awful loss. Eventually, Lydia walks over to Liam and Theo giving them a small, hopeful smile.

“They believed that you can do this. Scott didn’t make decisions without thinking them through. They chose you both for a reason. You can do this.” 

After that the pack returns to having small separate conversations, though most of them seem to revolve around Liam, Theo, and Allie now. Eventually everyone else leaves, promising to stop by before they leave town again, leaving Liam with Theo and Allie and a daunting new life ahead of them.

“So,” Theo speaks up after a long stretch of silence, “we should probably figure out how we’re going to do this, like schedule wise and everything.”

“Schedule wise?” Liam’s brain is still trying to wrap around the fact that he basically has a child now, so he hadn’t even really gotten to considering the details.

“Yes Liam, pretty sure leaving infants to fend for themselves all day is frowned upon.”

“Ok listen, asshole-“ Liam begins but before he can continue he is cut off. 

“Language Liam!” Theo says this as if he is absolutely scandalized by the use of the word asshole. “We are raising a child now. That kind of talk is just unacceptable. Wait here, one second.” 

With that Theo leaves Liam in the living room with Allie and disappears up the stairs, returning moments later holding a clear plastic jar with a few crumpled dollar bills in it.

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s a swear jar. And you now owe it two dollars.” Theo responds.

“You cannot be serious.”

“Do you want her first real word to be asshole Liam?”

Liam rolls his eyes but still pulls two dollars out of his pocket, dropping them in the jar.

“When did they get a swear jar?”

“A few months ago. Scott got it for Malia. But he felt bad actually doing anything with the money she put in it so usually we just ended up using it to buy beer,” Theo responds, as if that’s a totally normal answer.

“Feels like a weird use of a swear jar but ok whatever. So schedules,” Liam tries getting them back on the topic that they actually need to be discussing. “You work for the evening news right? What time do you need to be there?”

“Usually around 4 that should work ok with your teacher schedule right?” 

Liam nods and then they change topics, trying to figure out all of the details that they need to have covered. The conversation ends up getting much more heated than it probably needs to and involves Liam putting three more dollars in the swear jar with Theo having to add two of his own. It feels like they’ve been arguing for hours and have gotten nowhere. Liam can’t help but wonder, not for the first time since he agreed to this, what he has gotten himself into.


	3. Chapter 3

Liam is sitting in the kitchen, attempting to feed Allie more baby food that she refuses to eat when Theo returns from outside sweaty and shirtless. Liam looks away quickly, not wanting Theo to catch his eyes lingering on his shirtless torso, turning his attention back to Allie.

“Good run?”

Theo sighs, “it’s been almost a month, you’d think that I’d be used to half the moms in the neighborhood just conveniently being outside at the exact time that I happen to run by every day but it’s still weird.”

“Here’s an idea,” Liam begins with a smirk on his face, “maybe you could.. I don’t know.. wear a shirt.”

“It’s hot Liam. Besides maybe these grown and mostly married women should learn to control themselves.”

“I don’t see what the problem is. I thought you liked attention.”

“This is not the kind of attention that I’m interested in, Little Wolf.”

Liam rolls his eyes at the nickname that had not gone away over the last ten years. “Well I’m very sorry about the lack of hot, single gay guys in the neighborhood.”

“They wouldn’t have to be single. Less likely to become attached that way,” Liam can practically hear the smirk in Theo’s voice at the words and at this he gives him his full attention just so he can glare. “You’re disgusting.”

“Relax, Little Wolf. I’m just kidding,” Theo laughs. Liam looks at him, unconvinced. “I am! Seriously Liam, I wouldn’t do that. You are right about one thing though, I do miss hot single, gay guys,” Theo’s smirk is back in place at this point.

“Oh really? Are we going to pretend like I didn’t see you trying to sneak a guy out of your room literally two days ago? Where are you even meeting people at this point? All you do lately is work and take care of Allie.” Liam’s asks with an eye roll.

“That was the first one this week Liam, if I still had my old life there could’ve been a different one every day.” Liam decides not to comment on Theo avoiding answering his question. 

“Again, you’re disgusting.”

“I am not. We can’t all be like you, wanting to find true love and settle down.”

“I have never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. You could get laid but you don’t, it’s not hard to assume that you’re waiting around for something.” At this Liam just blushes, he wishes he could argue but Theo wasn’t that far off. He did want an actual relationship and maybe a family, though he would not say that he is waiting around for it, he’s too busy to even think about that anymore. Instead of admitting any of this to Theo he decides to get defensive. 

“Wanting a relationship is better than avoiding one at all costs and constantly sleeping around.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. My life was awesome before this.”

“Well sorry we’re such an inconvenience” Liam tries to keep the hurt out of his voice as he says this but is pretty sure he doesn’t succeed. Theo’s face softens immediately.

“Hey that’s not what I meant. I’m sorry Liam. Everything just changed so fast and it’s hard. I don’t know how they did it sometimes.” 

“It wasn’t always easy for them either. But I think this might be the longest conversation we’ve had without actually yelling or adding money to the swear jar, so we’re improving,” Liam tries to give him an encouraging smile.

“True” Theo send a small smile back and then seems to hesitate, “so-“ He starts before seeming to stop himself.

“What is it?”

“Well as I mentioned earlier it’s been almost a month so the uh- the full moon is coming up and the accident happened right after the last one so this will be-“ Theo can’t seem to continue or to make eye contact anymore but Liam knows what he’s trying to say.

“The first one since I became the alpha,” Liam finally says what they are both thinking. Theo just nods. 

“Honestly, I think it’ll be fine. I’ve been way better with control recently and I haven’t noticed many changes since I became the alpha but just in case I probably shouldn’t be near Allie on that night- oh my god Allie- has she started showing any signs yet? Do you know?”

For a second Theo looks confused and then realization dawns. 

“I don’t think so at least she hadn’t last time I talked to Malia about it. She said they weren’t sure when it would start or what exactly would happen.”

“Wonderful,” Liam deadpans, letting the nervousness seep through in like voice.

“I think they had some pediatrician that knew about the supernatural that they took her to though. She never gets sick but that’s really the only sign she’s shown of having Wolf abilities so far so they kept taking her there. They were practically obsessed with the guy. I bet his number is around here somewhere, maybe he would have some answers.” 

Liam can’t believe that he didn’t think about this sooner. He had been so worried about raising a baby that he hadn’t even stopped to focus on the fact that the baby he is raising is also a born wolf that will probably start reacting to the full moon soon, as if they didn’t have enough to worry about already.

“I’ll find the number and call him today.”


	4. Chapter 4

As Liam waits in the doctor’s office with Allie he can’t help but worry about how the appointment will go.

“Its gonna be fine, Allie” he feels the need to reassure the little girl even though she is currently playing with the shirt that he’s wearing, looking less than concerned. He continues to talk to her as he paces across the small room.

“I’m sure the doctor will be able to answer our questions and everything will be fine on the full moon. Everything is gonna be fine. There’s no need to be nervous, Allie.”

“You sure Allie’s the one who’s nervous?” Liam suddenly hears from behind him, and he really needs to get better about listening for heartbeats or footsteps or something. 

“Oh yeah sorry -“ He begins to say as he turns toward the doctor and stops mid sentence upon seeing him. Who knew that supernatural baby doctors were this hot? He tries to regain his composure.

“Sorry, hi I’m Liam.” Liam says as he finally reaches forward to shake the hot doctor’s outstretched hand, after a way too long pause.

“Hi Liam, you can call me Danny. I heard about what happened. I actually went to high school with Scott for a while, I can’t believe that they’re gone. I am so sorry.”

“Yeah uh- Thanks.”

There is sort of an awkward pause like neither of them quite know what to say after that before Danny finally speaks “so what brings you in today?”

“Oh um well -“ Liam begins before realizing that immediately asking a pediatrician about a born wolf baby feels like a weird introduction even if he does know about the supernatural. 

“-well mostly I just had a few questions. I was told that you um- that you...know.”

“Werewolf questions?” Danny replies, looking like he’s trying to hide his amusement. At this Liam let’s out a sigh of relief before Danny continues. “It’s ok Liam. Like I said I went to high school with Scott, I know he was a werewolf. And I studied up on everything that I could find. It’s not like supernatural medicine is exactly a speciality in med school but I wanted to be an option for people so that they didn’t have to try to explain away why their kid miraculously healed.”

Liam instantly feels more at ease hearing this.

“Ok. Ok great. So what do you know about born wolves and full moons? Ya know like when they’re young?” 

“It’s different from kid to kid. Allie hasn’t shown any real differences on the full moon yet. Scott said that sometimes they noticed her crying more but that was it. There hasn’t been any flashing eyes or extra aggression or anything else to show that the moon even affects her yet.”

“But you think it’ll come right?”

“Yes but-,” Danny looks nervous now which instantly puts Liam back on edge. “I know this is probably not what you want to hear but Allie is the daughter of a true alpha and a born werecoyote with the ability to full shift. That’s not exactly a common combination. I have no idea how her powers are going to manifest when they finally do.”

“Oh ok. So basically we just have to wait and see how it plays out?” 

“I wish I had a better answer.”

“No that’s- this is fine. It’ll be fine. We’ll just wait and see what happens... yeah that’s.. that’s fine.” Liam can feel himself panicking and knows that he is doing absolutely nothing to hide it. He is brought out of his own head by the feeling of a tiny hand on face, as if she is trying to comfort him. He smiles down at Allie before returning his attention to Danny.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to freak out or anything it’s just- it’s a lot.” Liam says with a guilty look on his face.

“Hey I get it. What you’re doing by taking Allie in is amazing Liam but it’s also going to be really hard. It’s ok to freak out sometimes just know that you’re doing a great job.”

“Thanks” Liam responds and he can feel the blush start to rise on his cheeks.

“You’re not doing this alone right? You have someone?”

“Yeah I have Theo” Liam replies before realizing how that might sound. “Well not like have have.. like I don’t have him.. he’s not mine.. well he’s my coparent for Allie so like we live together but we’re not like .. together together. Sorry that was a lot of information that you probably did not need.” Liam finally finished rambling and he could feel how red his face now is.

“No that’s, uh- that’s good to know,” Danny replies easily with a big smile and damn, that smile, Liam really did not think that real life doctors were supposed to be that hot. “Here’s my card. Call me if you have any more questions or anything.”

“Oh thanks, uh, bye!” Liam reaches for the card before shifting Allie onto his hip, grabbing the diaper bag and quickly exiting the office, hoping that Danny did not notice how hard he is blushing.

He looks down at Allie as they leave the building. 

“So your doctor seems nice.”

————-

As it turns out Liam’s worries ended up being unnecessary because the full moon goes smoothly for everyone. Liam stays completely in control and Allie shows no signs of shifting. 

The one the next month goes just as well.


	5. Chapter 5

”Come on Allie you can do it. Just take a step,” Liam says as he holds Allie’s hands while she stands up.

“Leave the girl alone, Little Wolf, she’ll walk when she has somewhere she wants to go,” Theo rolls his eyes at Liam’s latest attempt. 

“Well now that we haven’t had to worry about werewolf milestones as much don’t you think we should be focusing on the human ones? All of the books that I read said that most babies are walking or talking at fifteen months and she’s not doing either.”

“Who cares what other babies are doing? Obviously, Allie is the best baby. Those other babies are just jealous. They’re trying to one up her,” Theo replies, matter of fact.

“Ah yes, logic” Liam deadpans. “Ok well maybe if you don’t wanna walk you wanna try talking?” He says as he turns his full attention back to Allie. “Can you say Liam? Lee-uhm”

“Oh absolutely not” Theo walks over and swiftly scoops the little girl into his arms as she giggles. “That better not be your first word, Al. How about Theo? You think you can say that, huh? Theo?” Theo says to the little girl as he spins her around while she laughs.

Liam just rolls his eyes but he can’t hide the smile that is slowly making its way on to his face as he watches Theo with Allie. 

————-

Liam is sitting at the desk in his room working on his lesson plan for the week as the sounds of Theo and Allie watching tv in the living room drift up the stairs.

“Yes we made it! That was a close one,” he hears Theo say to the baby as if she is about to start responding. “Oh no. What do you think, Al? Is swiper gonna swipe the flashlight? Oh no. He swiped it. Did not see that coming.”

Liam rolls his eyes, something he has noticed himself doing a lot lately when it comes to Theo and smiles to himself as he continues to work, letting the sounds from downstairs drift to the back of his mind.

He isn’t sure how much time passes before Theo’s voice stops only to come back a moment later in a whispered tone that he knows Liam will still be able to hear.

“Liam.” Theo practically hisses. At this Liam stops.

“Liam get down here now.” Liam is out of his chair and down the stairs before he can even think about it. Responding to Theo as he goes.

“Theo what’s wro-“

“Shh” Theo cuts him off before he can continue. “Don’t make any sudden movements. You don’t want to spook her.”

“What are you-“ Liam stops speaking as he gets to the entrance of the living room and sees why he was called down so abruptly. Theo is still sitting in the same spot that he had been all afternoon but now he is completely still as if he’s worried that moving even an inch will stop Allie. 

Allie is still next to Theo but she’s standing, looking straight ahead of her with a sort of determined look on her face.

Liam is now standing just as still as Theo, literally holding his breath. Allie looks down at her feet then up in front of her again, and then she takes a step, then another.

“YES!” Theo breaks the silence as he jumps to his feet. Liam immediately joins in. “Yes Allie! Way to go!” 

They’re both cheering and laughing and Liam doesn’t even think about it as he launches himself into Theo’s arms. Theo laughs and spins him around as they both continue cheering for Allie. By the time that Liam is back on his feet Allie has stopped walking due to falling over but she is looking at them and laughing from her new spot on the floor. They both run to her immediately.

“Al that was amazing! You did so good!” Theo says to her, before turning to Liam. “Oh my god. She just took her first steps and we didn’t even get it on video. We’re the worst.” He says this as if it the worst mistake that they could have made but Liam cannot help but agree.

“Ok what if she does it again and we film that and tell everybody that those are her first steps?”

“I like the way you think, Little Wolf. You’ll have to let me say it though depending on who we’re talking to, your heart still skips when you lie. Go get your phone.”

Liam rushes to grab his phone and get back to where Theo is gently pulling Allie back up on her feet. 

“Come on Allie, one more time, you got this” Theo says to her as Liam starts to record. Now she is just standing there staring at both of them.

“Ok you don’t want to walk?” Theo continues, “well that’s ok do you want to try talking again? Theo? Remember? Theeeee-oooo” He says dragging out the sounds.

“Oh uh-uh.” Liam interjects as he pushes Theo’s face away. “Liam. Come on, Al. You got this. Leeeee-uhhhhm.” He says dragging out the sounds just as much.

Allie looks at both of them and tilts her head to the side as if she can’t quite figure out what’s wrong with them, before she slowly turns herself around and begins to take a step in the opposite direction. Theo begins hitting Liam in the side as a silent way of telling him that he better be recording, Liam swats Theo’s hand away as he follows Allie with his phone camera. They run to her side when she falls again and Theo looks at Liam.

“Did you get the video?”

“I got it!” Liam replies happily.

He also ends up getting about twelve more videos of her walking as their afternoon continues on similarly. Allie keeps trying to walk and the boys continue to cheer and congratulate her. Liam is pretty sure that he has a video of Allie walking from literally every angle possible, as well as numerous videos of Theo picking her up when she falls and trying to teach her how to fist bump.

By the time that they are sneaking out of Allie’s room that night after putting her to sleep Liam notices that he cannot stop looking at Theo’s face but he can’t pinpoint why at first.

“Why are you staring at me Little Wolf?” Theo whispers once they are safely down the stairs and settling in to the couch in the living room.

“What? I’m no-“ Liam cuts himself off as the change in Theo’s face finally dawns on him. “You’re smiling. You look happy” Liam finally replies, letting the words slip out before he can stop them, hoping that they don’t wipe the smile off of Theo’s face.

“So...?” Theo asks and Liam can tell that he is starting to become guarded.

“No, nothing sorry. It’s just I don’t think I’ve seen you look that happy since-“ Liam cuts himself off again to stop himself from saying what they both know that he is thinking but Theo fills in the blank anyway.

“Since Malia” he finishes, and the smile is still on his face but it’s smaller now, and sadder.

“Yeah. I never really realized it but I think I only ever really saw you smile like that when you were with her.”

“Yeah I never really thought about it but I mean she was favorite person so of course that’s when I was happiest.”

“You know, I still don’t think anyone actually knows how you two became friends,” Liam says not wanting to push his luck but knowing that this is probably the most Theo has willingly talked to anyone about Malia, and he wanted to hear more.

“Is this you trying to fish for information without actually asking?” Theo asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Uh-maybe” Liam decides that honesty is probably for the best right now. “But you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” He quickly adds on, knowing how painful it can be.

“No it’s uh- it’s ok,” Theo starts hesitantly. “How we became friends was never really meant to be a secret it was just a little unconventional and we decided it would be funnier if we just didn’t tell people. You know, just let them be confused.”

“Unconventional how?” Liam asks, now genuinely curious.

“I let her shoot me,” Theo replies completely casually.

“I’m sorry you what now?” Liam thinks he might have heard wrong for a minute but knowing who they’re talking about he probably didn’t.

“Don’t look at me like that, Puppy. She was home for some break and I was at one of the few bars that serves wolfsbane laced alcohol when she walked in.” Liam is really having trouble trying to connect how any of this led to shooting.

“She was clearly upset, I think Scott and her had had a fight and it seemed like she needed someone to talk to but when I offered to listen she just growled at me. She still held a grudge at that point. I’d always felt bad about the whole shooting her and selling her out to her mom thing and I really wanted to make it up to her but I wasn’t sure how.”

“So you let her shoot you?” Liam interjects, unable to stop himself.

“It seemed like the best way to make it even. The bar was close to her house and her dad wasn’t home so we went there, borrowed one of his guns she shot me, I healed and then we went back to the bar and got wasted, while she bitched about Scott before going back to him and fixing things. After that we realized that we just sort of clicked,” Theo finally finishes his story and then shrugs casually as if it was the most normal thing that he could have possibly said.

“Wow” Liam is at a loss for words at this point. “That is- uh- interesting base for a friendship,” he stutters our.

“Yeah, well, why do you think we didn’t tell anyone?” Theo’s laughs.

“You guys really were quite the pair,” Liam tells him, laughing as well now.

“Yeah” Theo responds. “I miss her. Hell, I miss both of them.”

“Me too” Liam nods. 

“It feels good to talk about her though. I wouldn’t have thought it would but it really does.”

“Do you think that maybe that’s part of our problem?” Liam asks suddenly, Theo just raises an eyebrow as if telling him to continue. “That we don’t really talk about them, I mean. We’ve both just been wallowing in our own sadness missing them while trying to raise their kid but we’ve been doing it separately. We never talk about them to each other. We also tip toe around this house trying not to change anything as if we’re waiting for them to come back.”

“But they’re not coming back,” Theo replies. “You’re right, we can do everything in our power to honor what they wanted but they left her to us. This house is basically a shrine to them, they wouldn’t have cared about that. They just wanted us to be here with her.”

“Yeah I think maybe we can start making it so that this place actually feels like home for everyone living in it. And we can start talking about them more because you’re right it did feel good.” And with that the smile is back on Theo’s face. The big one that Liam only used to see him wear around Malia, the one that was on his face earlier as he watched Allie take her first steps. Liam can’t help but think how beautiful he looks like this.


	6. Chapter 6

Liam can’t help but notice that things have actually gotten better since his and Theo’s talk. They stopped tip toeing around the memory of their friends, instead just talking about them openly. They were also starting to add their own touches to the house that they had been living in for two months, making it feel more like home for everyone. Liam also can’t help but notice that he and Theo are getting along better than they ever had before, as if after all this time they have finally become actual friends. He didn’t seem to be the only one that noticed.

“You guys seem to be less murdery than usual,” Mason comments one day after witnessing Liam smoothly hand Allie off to Theo to change her diaper without any arguing. Corey nods in agreement from his spot on the couch next to Mason.

“Yeah, I think we’re finally getting the hang out things” Liam replies “but seriously I’m so glad you guys are here. I miss spending time with adults that aren’t Theo.”

“Back atcha Little Wolf,” Theo cuts in as he walks back in to the room with Allie and sits down next to Liam. Liam just rolls his eyes before turning back to Mason and Corey.

“Have I shown you the video of Allie walking yet?” He asks excitedly.

“Eight times, Li” Mason responds, shaking his head fondly. “You all are doing a great job with Allie but when was the last time either of you took a break?” He was met with blank stares.

“When was the last time you all left the house to do something, other than going to work, without Allie?” Mason prods again. Theo and Liam look at each other before looking back at Mason.

“Not sure I understand the question” Theo finally replies.

“Oh my god. You two have become those people. The ones that have a kid and fall off the face of the earth.”

“Come on, Mase. We’re not that bad, we’re just busy,” Liam tries to convince his best friend.

“You are absolutely that bad. Even Scott and Malia weren’t this bad. They occasionally hired a baby sitter.”

“We used their baby sitter that one time,” Theo responds. Liam eagerly nods in agreement.

“And where did you go?” Corey cuts into the conversation.

“I went to work and Liam had parent teacher conferences,” Theo replies as if it’s a solid argument.

Mason and Corey look horrified.

“Ok, no. Go find the babysitter’s number and ask her if she can watch Allie this Saturday night. We’re going out,” Mason looks very proud of this plan.

“I barely liked going out before I had a baby to raise,” Liam responds skeptically.

“That is why we are going to get you really drunk” Mason says with a big smile as if that actually solves anything.

“We can’t both be drunk when we come home. What if something happens with Allie? You guys go and I’ll just stay here,” Liam hopes that maybe this argument will work.

“Maybe they’re right,” Theo speaks up. “It has been a long time since we’ve done anything without Allie, plus seeing you drunk sounds like a great time for everybody. I’ll stay sober in case anything happens.”

“Perfect. Problem solved. Theo go call the babysitter. I don’t trust Liam to actually do it,” Mason replies.

Liam just groans.

—————

“How ya feeling, Little Wolf?” Theo asks as he walks up to Liam where he is standing at the bar with Mason and Corey.

“Drunk,” Liam replies quickly.

“Well that was the goal,” Theo laughs.

“I have a new goal for you,” Mason interjects, slurring his words slightly. “We need to get you laid.”

“Mase we have talked about this, I do not need your help with my love life,” Liam rolls his eyes at his best friend.

“You don’t have a love life so clearly that’s not true.”

“Not sure if you’ve noticed but I’ve been kind of busy lately.”

“That is not an excuse. Theo is in the exact same situation and he still has sex. You told me you caught him sneaking somebody new out earlier this week.”

“Yeah, still don’t know where he is meeting these guys,” Liam says, hoping that he can put the attention on Theo instead. Theo just shrugs.

“What can I say? I’m just that good,” Theo replies, smirk firmly in place. Liam tries not to think about how hot he looks like this but his alcohol and wolfsbane muddled brain does not seem to get the memo.

“That’s not an actual answer, but anyway,” Mason continues, clearly not willing to let Liam change the subject, “that guy over there has been staring at you all night, Li. Go talk to him.”

Liam follows Mason’s gaze and sure enough there is an attractive guy looking right at him, he smiles when he sees that Liam noticed.

“Eh, he’s not my type.”

“He’s exactly your type.”

“Well I’m not interested.”

“But wh-“ before Mason can continue Liam decides to cut him off. “You know what we should do? Shots.” 

This seems to make Mason forget all about his goal for Liam as his eyes light up instantly and he leans toward the bar to order. Theo smiles and rolls his eyes, clearly knowing exactly what Liam is trying to do but he still pulls the bag of wolfsbane out of his pocket to mix into Liam’s shot.

—————-

“‘M so drunk,” Liam slurs from his spot in Theo’s passenger seat after they dropped off Mason and Corey.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have suggested doing shots every time Mason tried to bring up you needing to get laid.”

“Well maybe Mason should mind his own business.”

Theo laughs before responding, “why were you so set on avoiding it?” He finally asks.

“I dunno. Casual sex’s fine but it’s just not what- what I want,” Liam stumbles over his response. “I think I just want an actual relationship. Somebody that’s always gonna be there.”

“Fair enough. Now let’s get you inside.” Liam hadn’t even noticed that the car had stopped moving, he just nods lazily before opening his door and almost falling onto the driveway. Theo is at his side instantly putting an arm around him to keep him steady.

“You might want to find a better distraction technique next time,” he laughs as he helps Liam into the house. 

“You better be quiet Dunbar, I’m not gonna be able to handle babysitting both of you if you wake up Allie,” Theo whispers as they step into the house and readjusts his grip on Liam. Liam nods as he pulls his hand across his mouth, miming zipping it shut. Liam hears a giggle and looks over to where the babysitter is sitting in the living room, looking at them with clear amusement on her face.

“I’m not sure that he can handle stairs on his own right now but I’ll be right back,” Theo whispers to her, as they share an amused look.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Liam mumbles grudgingly. Theo just chuckles and tightens his hold on Liam before practically dragging him up the stairs. Liam can’t help but notice how warm he is with Theo’s arms wrapped around him. Theo pulls one arm back to open the door to Liam’s bedroom before guiding him inside and putting him down on the bed.

“I’m going to go pay the sitter. You think you can handle putting on your pajamas?” Theo asks, and that stupid, hot smirk is back on his face.

“Yes Theo. I’m not a child,” Liam responds before sticking out his tongue.

“Yes very mature,” Theo rolls his eyes before walking out of the room.

Liam pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it across the room before moving to undo his jeans and pull them down. They get stuck around his ankles when he realizes that he’s still wearing his shoes.

When Theo returns to the room it is to Liam laying sprawled across his bed with his legs dangling over the edge and his pants still around his ankles, shoes still in place.

“Having some trouble?” Theo asks doing nothing to hide the amusement in his voice.

“Clothes are hard. My feet are so far away. Can’t reach,” Liam whines.

“And I thought I’d only have to change one baby today,” Theo rolls his eyes before placing the glass of water he brought it on Liam’s dresser and crossing the room to kneel in front of him while he starts untying Liam’s shoes. Liam tries really hard to not think about how good Theo looks on his knees. 

After untying and removing Liam’s shoes for him and pulling his jeans the rest of the way off his legs Theo stands back up and grabs a a pair of sweatpants, tossing them at Liam before he crosses the room again to grab what he left on the dresser. Liam manages to wriggle into the sweatpants without standing up. 

“Here take these and drink this,” Theo says as he returns to the bed with Advil and water.

“Maybe you should start looking for someone to be in that relationship with. Then they can take care of your drunk ass next time,” Theo says without any real anger behind the words, but something flashes across his face as he says it, almost like he doesn’t actually mean a word that he is saying.

Liam just sticks his tongue out again and says “swear jar,” before placing the now half empty water glass on his bedside table and climbing under the covers. He tries to stop himself from speaking but his brain to mouth filter isn’t really working.

“You ever think you might want an actual boyfriend?” Liam slurs out. “Ya know ‘nstead of just having sex with all the mystery people? Hasn’t there ever been anyone you wanted somethin’ real with?” Liam says the last part through a big yawn but Theo still understands. Another look that Liam can’t decipher passes across his face but it’s gone again in an instant before his face softens.

“I don’t know. Maybe once but I messed it up and he wasn’t interested,” Liam can feel his eyelids getting heavier as Theo responds. “It’s for the best though. He’s too good for me anyway,” Theo responds softly.

Liam tries to mumble out a response about that being bullshit, how could anyone be too good for Theo?, but he’s not sure that any actual words come out, as sleep starts to pull him under. The last thing that he feels before falling asleep is a soft hand gently carding though his hair before hearing a softly whispered, “goodnight Little Wolf.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Ok so we got the milk and eggs what’s next on the list?” Liam asks as he walks down an aisle at the grocery store with Theo walking next to him, pushing the cart with Allie in it. Theo doesn’t respond right away and when Liam turns to look at him he instantly sees why.

Theo is clearly too busy checking out a random guy that is standing further down the aisle and smiling at the sight of Theo and Allie.

“Oh. My. God.” Liam says as a realization hits him. This finally earns him Theo’s attention.

“This is where you’ve been meeting those guys. You have been using Allie to pick up men.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Theo replies slyly but by the look on his face Liam can tell that Theo knows exactly what Liam is talking about and that he is completely correct.

“No wonder you’re always offering to run to the store with Allie. I’m surprised using a baby actually works to get you guys,” Liam continues, essentially ignoring Theo’s response that they both know is bullshit anyway.

Theo scoffs, feigning offense. 

“Have you seen these faces?” He asks gesturing to Allie and then himself. “Of course it works.”

“Modest,” Liam replies, rolling his eyes before speaking again. “Show me.”

“What?” Theo responds, skeptically.

“Come on, I want to see how you do it.”

“You want me to pick you up?” Theo asks, shock clear on his face.

“Yeah, loop back around and pretend I’m one of your random grocery store guys. Work your magic,” Liam replies, amusement clear in his voice.

“That’s ridiculous. I am not doing that,” Theo responds, rolling his eyes.

“Ugh whatever you’re no fun.” Liam turns back to look for his grocery list when Theo starts talking.

“Hey do you know anything about these?” He asks showing Liam a product he just grabbed from the shelf. Liam glances at it before responding.

“Uh, no. Don’t think so.”

“I think I read about this. Supposed to be good for kids,” Theo continues, “The jar looks kind of tough to open, though. Not that that would be a problem for you with those arms,” he says as he playfully touches Liam’s right arm.

“Oh- uh- thanks,” Liam can feel himself blushing. “I mean I try to stay in sha- oh my god,” Liam starts laughing, realizing that he fell directly into Theo’s trap.

“Right?” Theo looks way too proud himself .

“I cannot believe that works,” Liam groans.

“Like I said, just look at these faces,” Theo responds playfully. Before Liam can respond he hears someone calling his name. When he looks up he sees Danny walking over to him with a smile on his face.

“Danny, hi!” Liam responds quickly, now wearing a matching smile. 

“Theo, this is Allie’s Doctor, Danny,” Liam says turning to introduce them. He pointedly ignores Theo’s mumbled response of “you call him Danny?” In which he does absolutely nothing to hide the amusement or suspicion in his voice, but he still reaches his hand out to shake Danny’s as they greet each other. 

“Is this your uh- coparent?” Danny asks.

“Yeah and Liam has mentioned how much he really likes Allie’s doctor, a few times actually,” Theo says, clearly enjoying this way too much. It earns him Liam’s elbow in his rib cage.

“Well I’m glad to hear that,” Danny laughs, before continuing, “actually Liam there is something that I wanted to ask you.” Liam immediately pulls Danny a few feet away, knowing that it will do absolutely nothing to keep Theo from hearing them but hoping that it will at least keep him from embarrassing Liam in front of Danny.

“So how does this whole thing work? Do you ever get a day off?” Danny asks, still smiling at Liam.

“Uh yeah, actually, we’re working on getting better about that. So we’re switching off on Fridays.”

“And do you happen to have this Friday off?” Danny asks.

“I do,” Liam responds, and he can feel the blush beginning to take over his face.

“Well if you’re not busy maybe we could get dinner?” Danny asks hopefully.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Liam responds and he thinks his smile might be taking over half of his face at this point.

“Great,” Danny starts to respond. “Oh wait isn’t Friday the full moon? If you can’t-“ Liam cuts him off before he can finish.

“It should be fine. I’ve been able to stay in control a lot better lately and Allie still isn’t reacting so it’ll be fine if I’m not there.”

Danny’s smile is back instantly. “Ok great. Here, put your number in,” he says, handing Liam his phone. Liam types his number in quickly and hands it back. “I’ll see you Friday,” Danny says as Liam begins to turn to walk back to Theo and Allie. “Yeah I’ll see you Friday,” he says back.

When Liam gets back to Theo he just looks at him and smiles.

“Huh, grocery stores. I think you might be on to something.” Liam turns to look straight ahead as he continues walking and misses the look on Theo’s face.

“Yeah, grocery stores,” he hears Theo mumble under his breath, though he doesn’t sound as happy about it as he did earlier.

————-

“Ok, so I shouldn’t be gone for too long but call me if anything happens,” Liam says as he rushes around the house to make sure that he has everything before Danny gets there.

“Relax, Little Wolf, nothing is going to happen. Besides, Mason and Corey are here too,” Theo says gesturing to the two boys sitting on the couch with Allie sitting in Mason’s lap.

“You say that like it’s supposed to offer me comfort. Corey has known Allie since she was born and I don’t think that he has ever once held her,” Liam responds.

“Yeah, no I’m not doing that,” Corey responds confidently. “Babies are just so wiggly and they make all these confusing baby noises that are impossible to decipher. I love Allie but we do much better just looking at each other.”

Liam rolls his eyes before turning back to Theo, “like I said, call me if you need anything.” The doorbell rings a moment later and Liam steps forward to go answer it before Theo stops him.

“No, you don’t want to seem to eager. I’ll get it.” He leaves Liam in the living room before he can respond and a moment later Theo walks back into the room followed by Danny.

“Hi Liam,” Danny says when he sees him and that smile is back on his face but before Liam can even return the greeting Theo interjects.

“So I think we need to set some ground rules,” Theo begins, exaggerated, faux seriousness showing both on his face and in his voice.

“Oh my god, no,” Liam groans.

Theo ignores him.

“So first off I expect you to have him back at a reasonable hour,” Danny nods, looking amused by Theo’s theatrics. “And keep your hands to yourself,” Theo continues, Liam just groans once again. Mason and Corey are now doing nothing to hide their full blown laughter.

“Theo-“ Liam warns. Once again Theo ignores him, still looking at Danny.

“What are your intentions with Liam?”

“Oh my god. We’re leaving,” Liam grabs Danny’s arm and practically yanks him out the door.

————

The date is going well. Danny is polite, charming and funny and he seems to really like Liam. Liam tries to ignore something in the very back of his mind telling him that something is missing and it’s just not exactly right. Danny is great and he needs to focus on that. He is opening his mouth to respond to Danny when his phone rings.

“I’m so sorry I wouldn’t normally take this but that’s my ringtone for Theo,” he says as he reaches into his pocket for his phone. “I told him to call me if anything hap-,” Danny cuts him off before he can continue.

“I get it. You should answer it.”

“Theo. What is it?” Liam says as he answers the phone, starting to get nervous about why Theo would be calling. 

“Hey, so I want to start by saying I think it’s going to be fine and don’t freak out,” Theo starts, immediately causing Liam to start freaking out. “I called Deaton and he thinks that everything is probably ok but I just wanted Danny’s opinion on something.”

“What’s wrong?” Liam can feel his heart beginning to beat out of his chest as he starts to panic.

“Well probably nothing but it’s a little hard to explain,” Theo replies but he still sounds nervous.

“We’re on our way,” Liam says quickly, already standing up.

“What? No, it’s just a question, you don’t need to come ba-“ Theo starts but Liam was already on his feet with Danny quickly following suit as he puts money down on the table to pay for the meal and grabs his coat, sensing the urgency in Liam’s voice.

“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Liam cuts him off as they rush out of the restaurant.

————-

“Theo!” Liam yells as he rushes through the front door with Danny in tow, “Theo, what happened? Where’s Allie?” He has spent the entire car ride with his brain inventing all sorts of different horrible scenarios as to what could have happened. As he rounds the corner into the living room he stops in his tracks at what he sees. Out of every possibility that he had come up with this is definitely not what he had been expecting.

Theo, Corey, and Mason are sitting on the living room floor in a triangle as what looks like a very small puppy runs back and forth in between them, excitedly.

“What. The. Hell.” Liam finally manages to speak.

“Heyyyy,” Theo drags out the end of the word, nervously as he looks up at Liam. “I told you that it was probably going to be fine and you didn’t need to rush back.”

“Didn’t need to rush back? What the hell is happening Theo?!” Liam says loudly, at this the puppy looks in his direction as if just now noticing his presence and excitedly runs over to him, jumping at his feet. From this close Liam can now tell with certainty that the tiny ball of brown fur is not just a puppy but is actually a baby wolf. He knows what it means almost instantly. 

“So I think the full moon has started to affect Allie,” Theo says casually, as if he is talking about the weather and not telling Liam that the child that they are raising has turned into a literal wolf puppy. 

“Oh you think?” Liam snaps before he can stop himself. Theo ignores him and turns to Danny.

“So I called Deaton and he says he thinks she’ll be fine but mostly I just wanted to know if you’d ever seen anything like this?” Theo asks Danny.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone this young full shift,” Danny replies, looking a bit shocked. “Have there been any other signs of the full moon? Has she been aggressive or anything?” Liam is suddenly nervous to hear the answer.

“Not at all. She’s been like a literal puppy since she shifted,” Theo responds. As if to prove his point Allie runs back over to where the other three boys are sitting and begins to jump on Corey. As soon as he scoops her up into his arms she begins licking his face. It is actually pretty cute.

“Well, she had two very powerful parents, one that could full shift,” Danny says back, “I think this might be her way of losing control. Instead of being angry or aggressive she just.... shifts. You’ll probably be able to help her control it as she gets older but for right now there’s not a lot you can do so I’d say just make sure she stays in the house on full moons and as soon as it’s over she should change back.”

Theo nods, looking satisfied with the answer, and brings his attention back to Allie, leaning over to pet the puppy in Corey’s arms.

“Thank you, Danny,” Liam says, turning back towards him. “Sorry about all this. I bet this is the weirdest end to any date you’ve been on,” Liam jokes.

Danny smiles in response, “it’s definitely up there but don’t worry about it. I had a good time. I should probably get going though,” he says and he’s looking at Liam with his head tilted slightly, hesitantly, almost as if he’s waiting for something. His glazes flickers down to Liam’s lips for a brief moment and Liam is almost positive that Danny wants him to kiss him and part of Liam really wants to but then the same feeling from earlier comes back, the one in the very back of his mind telling him that something’s not right, and he finds himself leaning in to pull Danny into a rushed and slightly awkward hug.

“Thanks for tonight,” he says as he pulls away and starts walking the few feet to lead Danny to the front door. “I uh- I’ll see you around.”

Danny gives him a small smile, as if telling him that he understands exactly what he’s trying to say, exactly why Liam didn’t kiss him, which is just baffling because Liam isn’t even sure why. He thinks that Danny is about to say something but can almost see the moment that he changes his mind and just nods instead.

“See you around Liam,” and with that he is out the door.

Liam shakes his head as if trying to clear it as he walks back into the living room, only to be faced with three sets of eyes looking right at him. Mason is shaking his head slowly, exaggerated disappointment clear on his face, Corey looks almost sympathetic, but as if he knows something that Liam doesn’t, and Theo’s face is blank, not displaying any emotion, a look that he has perfected.

“What?” Liam finally asks, rolling his eyes.

“What is wrong with you Liam?! Why didn’t you kiss him?” Mason responds, clearly exasperated.

“You three were sitting there watching us. I’m not gonna kiss him in front of you,” he knows it’s not the full truth but he’s hoping nobody else notices.

“After walking him to door would’ve been another option,” Mason replies, not willing to give this up. “Seriously, Liam. That hug was painful to watch.”

“Whatever,” Liam responds rolling his eyes once again before a revelation hits him.

“Oh my god guys, Corey is holding Allie!” At this both Theo and Mason immediately look across the room, as if just now noticing that the puppy version of Allie has been in Corey arms for the past ten minutes. 

“Took you long enough,” Theo says sarcastically.

“What? It’s less scary like this,” Corey mumbles, rolling his eyes.

“Not even going to get into you thinking that a human one year old is scarier than a literal wolf but ok,” Theo begins, looking at Corey and Mason, “if you guys need to get going you can. We can handle it from here.” 

They both nod as Mason begins to stand up, Corey hands puppy Allie over to Theo before following his lead. They say quick goodbyes then Mason and Corey are out the door leaving just Liam, Theo, and Allie.

“So,” Theo begins, absentmindedly petting the small wolf in his arms, “I guess we have a puppy for the next few hours.”

Liam snorts in response. “Guess so. We should probably stay awake and keep an eye on her until she shifts back.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Theo replies, “want to watch a movie while we wait?” 

Liam nods and goes to pick out a movie while Theo stands up slowly as to not disturb Allie and goes to sit on the couch. Liam puts the movie in and settles into the couch next them.

They sit in comfortable silence as they watch the movie and Allie runs back and forth in between them on the couch. Eventually she falls asleep on Liam’s chest and he gently moves her into her portable crib in the living room so that they can still keep an eye on her.

They’re half way through the third movie when Theo starts talking.

“So how’d the date go?” He asks in a low voice, not wanting to wake up the finally sleeping Allie.

“It was good,” Liam responds simply.

“Yeah I could tell based on that end of the night hug, it got real steamy in here,” Theo deadpans, “no seriously, what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing is wrong with him,” Liam replies, Theo looks thoroughly unconvinced. “I like him, just... not in the way that I thought I would,” he finally replies, and he knows it’s the truth but he still can’t figure out why that is.

“He’s nice, he cares about kids, he’s a doctor so you know he’s smart, and he’s hot. Seems like someone you’d be into.”

And Theo is right. He seems exactly like someone Liam would be into so why wasn’t he?

“Yeah, I don’t know. You’re right. He’s like... perfect. Something just felt.. off?” Liam says, unsure.

“Off with him?”

“Yeah? No, I don’t know. I think it was me. He’s great but I just kept having this feeling like something was missing. Like something just wasn’t quite right.”

“Well you did date Hayden in high school and let’s not forget about the brief fling with Brett a few years back,” Theo says back, smirking, “maybe Danny is just too nice. Maybe you only date assholes.”

“Hayden was nice we just had a rough start,” Liam replies, defensively, “and Brett, well- Yeah, Brett’s an asshole. But I’ve dated other nice people!” Theo just snorts. “Oh yeah? When?” He challenges with the raise of an eyebrow.

“Well it’s been a while..” Liam shrugs, blushing, Theo laughs. 

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Little Wolf, maybe the really nice people just aren’t exciting enough for you,” Theo says softly and Liam isn’t sure when it happened but he now notices that they are much closer to each other than they were when they first sat down. “Maybe you just need someone that’ll keep you on your toes.”

Theo practically whispers the last part and now Liam wonders when their faces got so close. Theo has his head tilted to the side just slightly, and there is a look on his face that he thinks he recognizes but he’s never noticed it on Theo before, certainly not directed at him. Liam thinks that he sees Theo’s eyes flick down, so fast he’s not even sure if it actually happened, and that’s when he realizes why the look is so familiar. It is the same as the look on Danny’s face just before Liam went in for the hug and- oh.

_Oh. ___

__Theo is looking at Liam like he wants to kiss him._ _

__He can feel his heart rate pick up rapidly. He realizes then that he never responded to Theo._ _

__“Yeah, uh- maybe I do,” he finally replies, but he knows that neither of them miss how breathless he sounds._ _

__He is trying not to let his face convey the shock that he currently feels. Shock at the idea of Theo ever wanting to kiss him, but even more than that, Liam is shocked to realize just how much he also wants to kiss Theo._ _

__It isn’t something that he ever really lets himself think about. Of course he knows Theo is attractive, it’s hard not to notice with all of the shirtless runs that the other boy is constantly going on, but he actively tries to never look past that, to never think about more than that with Theo. But now their faces are so close and he can practically feel Theo’s breath on his lips. Theo’s head tilts just a tiny bit more but it’s enough to bring his face that much closer to Liam’s. Liam tilts his head forward, ready to close the tiny gap that’s still between them._ _

__And then they hear a cry._ _

__They startle apart at the sound of the loud, now human again, cry coming from the portable crib in front of them. Theo shakes his head slightly as if clearing it from a daze and instantly gets up to go to the crib._ _

__“Well at least we know she’s human again,” Theo says as he picks up the now screaming baby, but his voice doesn’t sound quite as casual as Liam thinks it’s meant to._ _

__Liam mumbles out a response that he thinks comes out as coherently as can be expected but he stays seated on the couch, in a daze._ _

___What the _hell _just happened? ____ _ __


	8. Chapter 8

They don’t talk about the almost kiss. After that night everything continues on like it did before, as if nothing happened. Liam refuses to be the first one to bring it up and Theo hasn’t said anything so they don’t talk about it. Just because they aren’t talking about it doesn’t mean that Liam isn’t thinking about it. He is starting to feel as though all he does is think about it. It’s becoming a problem.

Theo is attractive. Liam has known this as long as he has known Theo but he used to be able to ignore it. He used to find it easy. At first he found Theo too annoying to really focus on how attractive he was. Then they started raising a baby together and Liam realized that he actually liked Theo as a person and the thoughts would occasionally get through but never for too long. Then Theo just had to go and almost kiss him and now all he can think about is Theo and how hot he is and how badly Liam wishes that Allie had woken up just a minute later that night.

Liam is sitting on the floor playing with Allie and trying to not think about Theo when the very same boy that Liam can’t get out of his head bursts into the living room at a run.

“Liam!” Theo shouts excitedly, “Li, I just got off the phone with our case worker!”

“And?” Liam asks immediately.

“We passed! After our last visit she passed us. We’ll have one final hearing for the judge to sign the papers but we did it, Li. It’s not temporary anymore. We’re going to be Allie’s permanent guardians,” Theo explains.

“Yes!” Liam is on his feet in an instant, practically throwing himself into Theo’s arms before he can stop himself. Theo laughs and hugs him back. As soon as Theo untangles his arms from around Liam he is bending down to scoop Allie up.

“Did ya hear that Al?” He asks, spinning her around, “you’re stuck with us kid,” he says gleefully.

“Yeah so you should probably learn how to say our names,” Liam adds in, looking at Allie, “leeee-uhm.”

“You’re still stuck on that huh?” Theo laughs.

“The words have started, Theo. She can say shoe, home, and flower. She can say flower but not Liam? I don’t think so. It’s personal now.”

Theo laughs, “ok well you keep working on that but I think we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate how?”

“Let’s go to dinner. Let’s call the babysitter and both take a night off.”

“So to celebrate that we get to permanently keep Allie we’re ditching Allie?” Liam asks amused.

“Basically. Just for one night. People with kids go to dinner sometimes Liam.”

“Ok I’m in. Go call the sitter,” Liam says as he tries to convince himself that it doesn’t mean anything that Theo wants to spend a night out with just him. 

—————

As Liam sits across from Theo at the restaurant with conversation flowing easily he can’t help but think about how much things have changed. At this time a year ago he could barely stand Theo and now here he is raising a child with him, actually being friends with him and wanting to possibly be more.

“What’re you thinking about?” Theo asks, seeming to have noticed that Liam had zoned out.

“How different everything is,” he replies, Theo just raises an eyebrow in question. 

“A year ago we could barely be in the same room together without getting into a stupid fight about something and look at us now,” Liam jokes.

“We’ve definitely come a long way,” Theo agrees, chuckling, “I’m not even sure the last time that we were in a room alone together before all of this started.”

“Probably the disastrous attempt at setting us up on a date six years ago,” Liam responds, laughing.

Theo cringes, “I was honestly hoping that you forgot about that.”

“Why? Is the idea of dating me that horrible?” Liam tries to keep his tone light and playful, he also tries to keep his heart from giving away how important the answer to that question is to him now.

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Theo responds, rolling his eyes. “It’s just that that date is definitely not something that I would want to be remembered for. I was.. well-“ Theo tapers off looking for the right word.

“A dick?” Liam suggests, jokingly.

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” Theo replies instantly.

“Yeah, I gotta say I had never had anyone show up an hour late and then set up a booty call with someone else for later that night but there really is a first time for everything,” Liam laughs, and there’s no anger behind the words, at least, not anymore.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” Theo responds, and for a moment Liam thinks that he hears an uptick in Theo’s heart, but he shakes his head, deciding that he must have imagined it.

“Wolf hearing, Theo. I was like ten feet away,” Liam deadpans.

Theo’s face softens and he looks more serious now.

“I don’t think I ever apologized for that Liam. I know it was a long time ago but I’m so sorry. You were already on a date that you didn’t want to be on and on top of that I was a huge dick.”

“It’s fine Theo, really,” And he knows that as he says the words he really does mean them, “like you said it was a long time ago. And honestly I’m not even sure why Malia thought it was a good idea to try to set us up in the first place.”

“Yeah me either,” Theo replies, and for a second Liam swears his heart skips again but he ignores it, choosing to change the subject instead.

The night continues on as they fall back into easy conversation. With every joke and smile that Theo sends him Liam can feel himself falling for the other boy just a little bit more.

He is completely fucked.

————-

“At least the baby sitter won’t have to watch me carry you up the stairs tonight, unlike last time she was here,” Theo jokes as they walk through the front door.

“Mason was the one that wanted to get me drunk, you can blame that on him,” Liam responds. 

Theo just rolls his eyes as they step into the living room where the babysitter greets them.

“She fell asleep down here in the portable crib and I didn’t want to risk moving her,” she explains in a whispered tone as she gestures to where Allie is sleeping soundly. They thank her and pay her before going to stand by Allie’s crib, both watching the baby fondly smiling first at her before looking up and exchanging a soft smile with each other.

“By the way,” the baby sitter says as she walks to the door, “you guys make a really cute couple, I’m really glad it worked out,” she smiles.

Liam can feel his heart pick up speed at the the idea of he and Theo being called a couple but he quickly goes to correct her, “oh- uh - no-“

“Thanks,” Theo cuts him off before he can finish and when he looks up he realizes that Theo isn’t even looking at the sitter anymore, his attention is completely on Liam, smiling softly. Liam is pretty sure that his heart is about to beat out of his chest.

Without saying anything else Theo leans down to gently scoop the still sleeping Allie into his arms and take her upstairs to her room. Liam follows silently behind him, not wanting to wake her up. He waits until Allie is sleeping soundly in her crib and they are back in the hallway with her door shut before he speaks. 

“So cute couple huh?” Liam asks, trying to sounds playful and casual.

“Going with it seemed easier than correcting her,” Theo replies easily.

“Oh. Right.” Liam tries to not let his disappointment show, “ok well, goodnight, Theo,” he says as he turns around to walk to his room.

He hears a quietly mumbled “fuck it” before there is a hand wrapped around his arm. Before he can open his mouth to say anything he is being swiftly spun around right before lips crash down on to his. For a moment he is too shocked to react but as soon as Theo starts to pull away, looking at him hesitantly Liam’s brain catches up. He immediately fists his hands into Theo’s shirt pulling him back down and sealing their lips together, Theo kisses him back instantly. In this moment Liam decides that he absolutely does not feel ridiculous for spending the past two weeks obsessing over what it would be like to kiss Theo because kissing Theo is awesome and it was totally worth it. Eventually he has to pull away to breath, leaning his forehead against Theo’s and breathing heavily.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear what you said before,” he says smirking, “dollar in the swear jar, Raeken.”

“Shut up, Dunbar,” Theo rolls his eyes but he’s smiling.

“Make me.”

Suddenly he feels his back hitting the wall and Theo’s lips are back on his but the kiss is needier than before, almost desperate. Theo slips one of his legs in between Liam’s and Liam let’s out a moan at the sudden contact. Liam pushes off the wall, walking backwards towards his bedroom and pulling Theo with him while keeping their lips connected. As soon as they’re inside and the door is closed behind them he pushes Theo against it, still kissing him roughly. He lets out a noise of protest when Theo pulls away.

“You sure about this, Little Wolf?” Theo asks, looking at Liam fondly, as if he is the greatest thing that Theo has ever seen.

“Yes,” Liam answers a little too eagerly, before a thought occurs to him.

“I mean- unless you’re not,” he says hesitantly, “if you don’t want to do thi-“

He is cut off by another needy kiss.

“I want to,” Theo says just as eagerly before leaning in and kissing Liam again, just as passionate as before but a little bit softer this time, slower, as if he desperately wants Liam to understand all of the emotions that he is trying to put into the kiss. Liam kisses him back, just as desperate, before pulling away just enough to mumble against Theo’s lips.

“Bed. Now.”

————-

“So... that happened,” Theo says as they lay tangled together.

“It did,” Liam replies with a laugh before his self doubt catches up with him, “do you- do you regret it?” He can’t keep himself from asking.

He feels a hand on his chin, gently tipping his head up so he’s looking Theo in the eyes.

“Absolutely not,” Theo says firmly, pulling Liam even closer into his side as Liam mumbles out a quiet, “good.”

They fall back into a comfortable silence before Theo speaks.

“I sabotaged the date on purpose,” he says a little guiltily.

“What?” Liam asks, genuinely confused.

“The date six years ago. I messed it up on purpose,” Theo says as if that clears up anything at all.

“Why?” Liam asks, trying not to feel hurt by the words.

“I had a crush on you and Malia found out and that’s why she set the date up but-“

“Wait,” Liam cuts him off, “you had a crush on me? Six years ago?” He asks, disbelief clear in his voice.

“Longer than that actually,” Theo replies sheepishly, “it took everything I had to not kiss you in the hospital elevator... ten years ago.”

“Oh my god,” Liam laughs, genuinely shocked and cuddles even closer to Theo, burying his head in his neck before a thought occurs to him and pulls back just enough for Theo to be able to hear him clearly.

“But if you had a crush on me why did you mess up the date?”

“I knew you didn’t want to be there, Liam. Malia practically made you go and you were just too scared of her to say no,” Theo says with a small laugh.

“That’s not-“ Liam begins but when Theo shoots him a knowing look he shuts his mouth, they both know that it’s true.

“The thought of actually getting my hopes up and really trying just for you to still not even like me as a person hurt too much,” Theo continues.

“But maybe I would have liked you, maybe I would have liked you way sooner,” Liam replies, now absentmindedly tracing patterns across Theo’s chest with his index finger.

“Yeah, I thought about that too,” Theo responds, almost sadly, “but I was still in a pretty bad place back then. Pretty much everyone had forgiven me but I hadn’t forgiven myself and I didn’t want to pull you into that, Liam. I convinced myself that I was a darkness that you didn’t need in your life. That you were too good for me and I would just bring you down.”

Liam frowns, heart breaking a little at Theo’s words. “That’s bullshit Theo, I’m not too good for you. I’m so sorry that you ever felt that way.” Theo just tightens the arm that he has around Liam.

“I cannot believe that you sabotaged that date on purpose,” Liam says, laughing, trying to lighten the increasingly heavy mood. Theo starts laughing too.

“Yeah Malia was not pleased, she punched me then didn’t talk to me for like six hours.” Liam laughs harder at that but Theo keeps talking, “she told me I missed my shot but we still got here eventually,” he says, his voice fond.

Liam smiles, leaning up to press a quick kiss to Theo’s lips before laying his head back down on his chest.

“Yeah,” he replies happily, though through a yawn, “we did.”


	9. Chapter 9

Liam wakes up alone in his bed but feeling more well rested than he has in a long time. He feels a sting of disappointment when he realizes that Theo isn’t in the bed anymore, wondering briefly if maybe the night before didn’t actually mean as much to him as it did to Liam. When he turns to pick up his phone off of his bedside table and check the time he immediately understands why he feels so well rested. It’s 8:42 am. Liam has an alarm set to go off at 8 am on weekends that he knows didn’t go off but more than that he can’t even remember the last time that he actually got to sleep until the 8 am alarm, with Allie constantly waking up around 6, if not earlier, always waking both boys up with her.

He bolts out of bed, starting to get nervous, quickly pulling on the first pair of sweatpants he can find and rushes into Allie’s room only to find the crib empty. Before he lets the panic set in he focuses his senses and picks up on the two heartbeats coming from downstairs. As he walks down the stairs he is hit with the delicious smell of eggs and bacon. He turns the corner into the kitchen and is met with what might be the best thing that he has ever seen in his life.

Theo is there wearing loose sweatpants and one of Liam’s sweatshirts -Liam lets happiness consume him at the sight of Theo in his clothes- he is dancing around the kitchen to the music playing softly on his phone with a giggling Allie on his hip. Liam stands in the doorway, just watching as Theo, who somehow hasn’t seemed to notice his presence yet, moves swiftly through the room, putting the eggs and bacon on to plates, and grabbing juice from the fridge as he continues dancing, talking softly to the child in his arms as he occasionally dips her or spins her around, just making her laugh even louder. Liam watches as Theo spins Allie around one more time, both of them now laughing, before giving her a kiss on the forehead and placing her down in her high chair. Liam feels his heart swell at the sight.

As Theo is turning away from the high chair he notices Liam standing in the doorway and his laugh immediately softens into a fond smile.

“Morning Sunshine,” Theo’s smile widens when he hears the obvious skip in Liam’s heart at the nickname.

“Morning,” Liam replies happily, “how did I not hear you guys get up this morning?”

“I got to her before the crying got too loud and I turned your alarm off. Wanted to let you sleep,” Theo says simply and Liam cannot stop himself from walking the few feet it takes to close the distance between him and Theo and pressing his lips to the other boy’s. The kiss quickly deepens, more than it probably should in their present company. Theo pulls away first.

“Easy, Little Wolf, not in front of the baby,” he says with a chuckle. Liam pouts a little as Theo pulls away completely before walking over to the counter next to the stove to grab the plates of food. Liam takes a seat at one of the barstools by the counter and Theo walks back over, placing a plate in front of him.

“And you made breakfast?” Liam asks playfully.

“Yeah, well I guess I kinda like you,” Theo jokes back, but Liam can see a light blush beginning to form on his cheeks as he says it. Liam takes a bite and lets out an involuntary moan.

“Oh my god. How is it possible for eggs to be this good?” Liam says through another mouthful of food. Theo just laughs softly in response.

“Wait,” Liam continues after swallowing down the bite of food, “are you good at cooking? Why have I been making all the food?” He asks incredulously, arching an eyebrow at Theo.

“Because you assumed I couldn’t cook and that made my life easier,” Theo responds with a sly grin, “but after last night I wanted to do something nice for you so I decided it was time to let the secret out.”

“Oh so I give you sex and I get breakfast?” Liam replies with a smirk.

“Don’t talk like that in front of the baby, Liam. If she says s-e-x-“ his voice gets lower as he spells out the word, “before she says Liam you’re going to be so mad.” Liam just rolls his eyes, he has a point.

“..buuuuut?” Liam drags out the word jokingly.

“But yeah, pretty much,” Theo says laughing, but the blush on his cheeks is even deeper now, Liam can’t help but thinks he looks adorable.

“Never saw you making breakfast for any of your other, uh... company,” Liam says lightly.

“Yeah well, like I said, I kinda like you,” Theo replies before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss. 

Theo joins him at the counter and they eat their breakfast in a comfortable silence, before Theo speaks up.

“So what were your plans for today?” He asks.

“I told Mason I’d hang out with him for a little bit since Corey is going in to work but I can raincheck if you had something in mind,” Liam replies.

“Nah, go see Mason. I’m sure you’re especially dying to talk to him now,” he says with a smirk.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You tell each other everything. Are we really going to pretend that the first words out of your mouth when you get there aren’t going to be ‘I had sex with Theo?’” If a smirk can get bigger Liam is pretty sure that Theo’s does.

“I thought we weren’t saying that word in front of the baby,” Liam replies smugly, “And it won’t be the _first _thing.”__

__“Uh huh, whatever you say, Little Wolf,” Theo rolls his eyes and leans in to kiss Liam again before taking the dishes to the sink._ _

__————_ _

__“I had sex with Theo!” Liam announces as he steps past Mason and into the apartment, mentally slapping himself because dammit Theo was right._ _

__“Dammit Liam, now I owe Corey $20,” Mason replies, shaking his head in disappointment, “I really thought you could hold out longer than this. I had way too much faith in you, apparently,” he says as he shuts the door and leads Liam into the living room._ _

__“Apparently,” Liam repeats sarcastically as he follows, not in the least bit surprised that they had a bet going, until Mason’s words really sink in._ _

__“Wait, hold out longer?” He asks confused, “you didn’t bet that I wouldn’t sleep with him?”_ _

__“Please,” Mason scoffs, “nobody would be stupid enough to take that bet, but I did think you could make it longer than six months, dammit, Liam, we were so close,” Mason’s fake irritation immediately shifts to interest as he settles on to the couch and eagerly turns to face Liam again, “so how was it?” He asks, suggestively raising his eyebrows._ _

__Liam blushes at the question but immediately answers anyway because ultimately Theo was right, he does tell Mason everything._ _

__“It was amazing, Mase, and this morning he turned off my alarm so I could sleep in and he made me breakfast,” he says and he notices that he can’t keep the smile off of his face. Mason must notice too because he seems a bit hesitant before asking his next question._ _

__“So, what happens now?”_ _

__“What do you mean?” Liam responds, confused._ _

__“Like what does this mean for you and Theo?” Mason tries to clarify, “are you together now or is this just casual?”_ _

__Liam opens his mouth to answer before realizing that he doesn’t actually know what the answer is. It didn’t seem just casual after last night and this morning but they also hadn’t talked about what they were now._ _

__“I -uh. I guess I don’t really know,” Liam says, feeling a little defeated._ _

__Mason looks sympathetic as he reaches a hand out and places it on Liam’s arm in a comforting gesture._ _

__“I’m not trying to freak you out, Li, and I mean this in the nicest way possible but you might want to figure that out before things get too confusing and I don’t just mean for you two,” when Liam raises an eyebrow in question Mason sighs, “this isn’t just about you two, Li. You’re raising a baby together and she might not understand what’s happening now but as she gets older she will and these past months have probably been confusing enough for her. She doesn’t deserve to grow up with two parents that are awkwardly tip toeing around each other not really sure where they stand. Be together or don’t but I don’t think there can be an in between here, Li.” Liam lets out a sigh as the words sink in._ _

__“No, you’re right. I know you’re right, I just- I don’t know what Theo wants,” he finally says, his voice comes out small and a little sad._ _

__“Then ask him. Talk to him and be explicitly clear,” Mason replies._ _

__“Yeah you’re right. I’ll talk to him,” Liam responds with a confidence that he isn’t sure he actually feels._ _

__The conversation shifts after that and the morning passes on just like any other day that Liam and Mason hang out but he can’t stop the voice in the back of his mind replaying Mason’s words over and over or the worry, saying what if he isn’t what Theo wants. He also can’t stop the realization of how much it might hurt him if that is the case._ _

__————_ _

__Liam’s nerves have reached a whole new level as he walks up the front steps and to the door. He needs to talk to Theo but he can’t stop himself from worrying about what Theo might say. When he opens the door and walks into the house he sees Theo putting a jacket on Allie._ _

__“Hey,” he smiles as he looks up at Liam._ _

__“Hey,” Liam replies, trying not to let his nerves come through in his voice, “going somewhere?” He asks, gesturing to their jackets and the packed diaper bag._ _

__“Just to the store. We’re out of some essentials and I was also going to pick up some stuff to make dinner now that me being able to cook is out in the open,” Theo responds easily with a laugh. Liam thinks he can feel his heart clench. The store. The place where Theo has spent the last several months picking up men._ _

__“Oh, uh, right. The store,” Liam says, trying to sound casual but knowing that he fails based on the look on Theo’s face. He looks confused for a brief moment before realization seems to dawn on his face and he takes a slow, almost cautious step towards Liam._ _

__“Liam,” he says slowly, “are you worried about me going to the store because that’s where I’ve met men before?” He asks, still a little hesitant._ _

__“No!” Liam responds quickly, knowing that they both hear the clear skip in his heart. “Yes... I don’t know,” he finally says, sounding dejected, “I guess I just don’t totally know where we stand.”_ _

__“Liam, I am not planning on picking up men at the grocery store and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but I haven’t done that in a while. I don’t think I’ve actually brought somebody home since before that night at the club when you got wasted,” and as Theo says this Liam realizes that it’s true. It really had been a while since Liam had last seen a stranger being snuck out of their house._ _

__“And do you know why that is?” Theo asks._ _

__“Is it-“ Liam starts but stops before continuing, wanting more than anything not to be wrong, “-me?” He finally says in a small voice._ _

__Theo lets out a small laugh as he steps forward even more, putting his hands on Liam’s hips and pulling him closer._ _

__“Of course it’s you, Liam. I’m pretty sure you’re it for me,” he says this softly, as though he’s making a confession and Liam thinks that his heart might burst before Theo keeps talking, “I mean if that’s- if that’s what you want,” he finishes hesitantly. Liam puts his hands on Theo’s waist, pulling him closer until they are completely pressed against each other._ _

__“That’s what I want,” he says softly before leaning in to kiss Theo. They only pull apart when they hear a giggle behind them, quickly followed up by a garbled version of the word “store” sounding as impatient as Liam thinks is possible for a one year old. They pull apart laughing._ _

__“Great. One more word that is apparently more important than my name,” Theo laughs at Liam’s dramatics before Liam bends down to scoop Allie into his arms._ _

__“Yeah, Al, we’re going to the store,” he says before kissing her on the head. His smile is impossibly wide as they walk to the car together, not being able to ignore how happy he is._ _


	10. Chapter 10

“So what do you want to do for dinner?” Theo asks as they sit in the neighborhood park playing with Allie.

“As long as you cook I don’t even care,” Liam responds with a smile, his smile grows as he thinks about how normal this conversation sounds. After everything that both of them have been through Liam honestly wasn’t sure that he would ever get something normal but now he is sitting here casually discussing dinner options with Theo Raeken like they are some boring married couple. In some ways Liam almost feels like they are.

It hasn’t been all that long, just shy of two months but things have been going great. They had a routine down before and now it is as if they have just added an extra layer to it. Liam falls asleep every night now with Theo next to him and wakes up in Theo’s arms every morning before getting out of bed to go get Allie and start the day. They go to the grocery store and if a man so much as even looks in Theo’s direction he immediately throws his arm around Liam’s waist to pull him closer. On days that they both have off of work they spend them together with Allie, like today. Liam smiles just thinking about it. 

“Theo!” Liam and Theo both turn their heads when they hear his name being called to see a man walking up to them. “I heard you lived in this neighborhood now,” the man says.

“Yeah just up the street actually,” Theo responds politely, “Liam this is Mike, we work together at the station,” Theo explains as Liam reaches out to shake hands with the man.

“Yeah maybe not for much longer I hear,” Mike responds and Liam is immediately confused, “I’ve been meaning to congratulate you on the new job, Theo. When do you leave for Chicago?” Liam can feel his heart plummet.

“Oh, um thanks but it’s uh- I don’t know if I’m going yet,” Theo stammers out, face turning red.

“Really? The guys at the station made it sound like a done deal,” Mike says before he seems to notice the newfound tenseness settling in the air, “Uh well I’ll see you around Theo,” he says before walking away quickly.

“What job Theo?” Liam asks, voice shaking slightly.

“It just happened,” Theo starts nervously, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you-“

“What. Job. Theo.” Liam bites out through clenched teeth.

“A job opened up at a TV station in Chicago and my boss recommended me for it,” Theo finally says, “it’s a huge step up from my current position and the opportunity is amazing,” his voice is small as he speaks.

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“I don’t know I just didn’t want it to become a thing,” Theo responds quietly.

“Are you going to take it?” Liam asks and he’s not sure if he’s even mad, right now he only feels sad at the thought of Theo leaving.

“I- I don’t know,” Theo can’t even look at him as he responds.

“But you’re thinking about it?” Liam asks and all it takes for him to know the answer is the look on Theo’s face, “do you want to go?” Liam finally asks.

“Yes- I don’t know,” Theo’s voice is small as he responds, “before everything I wouldn’t have even had to think about it before saying yes. I’ve been working towards an opportunity like this for years.”

“So were Allie and I supposed to come with you or were you going to leave us?” Liam asks, and now he’s starting to get mad.

“I - I don’t know Liam, I’ve never had to make decisions like this before. I never expected to have to make decisions like this, ever,” Theo says raising his voice slightly, “this was never where I saw my life going Liam. I never saw myself with a family. You’ve been better at this since the beginning but you wanted this-“ 

“Jesus, Theo. Not the way I got it!” Liam interrupts him and he’s fully aware that’s he’s yelling now but he thinks maybe if he’s loud enough the hurt won’t come through in his voice.

“No, I- I know that,” Theo says back only slightly quieter than Liam, “but you saw something like this for yourself someday, I didn’t. My job was my main focus. I never thought I’d have to step in and play this part!” Theo yells and Liam feels his heart begin to crack. He picks up Allie and stands up quickly. Theo is on his feet only seconds later.

“Play this part?” Liam asks and his voice is small now and shaking. He can’t find it in himself to keep yelling, not when he has to try so hard to keep himself from crying. 

“No, that’s not- I care about you Liam. You know I do,” Theo is starting to sound defeated.

“Just not enough,” Liam responds, lashing out, “not more than this job,” he continues before Theo can try to cut him off, “I’m it for you until something better comes along. Something that you actually wanted in the first place and then you’re just playing a part,” Liam spits out. Theo looks too shocked to respond.

“Were you pretending with Allie?” He can’t stop himself from asking.

“Of course not,” Theo finally finds his voice and he sounds genuinely offended as he says this, “I love Allie.”

“So just me then,” Liam doesn’t think he has ever heard his own voice sound quite so small.

“No, that’s not what I-“ Theo starts but Liam can’t listen anymore, he can’t be here anymore, not when the tears are so close to the surface. He turns around immediately.

“Take the job, Theo!” He yells back over his shoulder. 

As he walks as quickly as he can back toward the house he hears a call of “Liam wait!” 

But Liam doesn’t wait.

And Theo doesn’t chase him.

————

Liam slams the door behind him as he enters the house, finally letting the tears fall, completely unable to stop them. It’s as if his own tears have triggered Allie’s and now she’s crying too. He holds her even closer to his chest, a weak attempt to calm them both.

“It’s ok, Al. We’ll be ok,” he mumbles out through his tears, not actually knowing if he believes the words that he’s saying.

He wishes that he could rewind everything back to the happiness and the peace that that they had before but as he sits, sobbing and still trying and failing to bring comfort to the girl in his arms he knows that it’s impossible. 

The peace is broken.

Just like he thinks his heart now is.


	11. Chapter 11

Two days.

It has been two days since Theo moved to Chicago and Liam feels lost. After their fight they tried to be as civil as possible in the days leading up to Theo leaving but most of the time it left them in an uneasy silence, only talking when it was completely necessary.

Theo still wants to be completely involved in Allie’s life. He promised to FaceTime so he could talk to her and to come back for visits as often as he can. Liam knows that Theo is going to do his best and that he means it when he says he will be there for Allie. 

Since the initial fight Liam has discovered that he’s not even mad anymore. He’s just sad. He just misses him. It’s only been two days and sometimes Liam feels like he misses him so much that he can’t breathe. And when he finally catches his breath he just feels stupid. Stupid that he let himself get that attached and stupid that he allowed himself to fall in love with Theo Raeken in the first place. Liam knows now that that is what this is. It wouldn’t hurt this bad if it wasn’t love. He wouldn’t miss him this much. 

He thinks that he realized that he was in love with him before he even left but they weren’t really talking then and Liam was too stubborn to break the silence. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Theo he loves him and to ask him to stay even though that’s all that he wanted. He was the one that had told him to go and asking him to stay after that didn’t feel fair. He also couldn’t bear to hear the rejection that he knows would have come if he had told Theo that he loves him. So he said nothing and Theo left. He has started falling asleep clutching a sweatshirt that Theo left behind, breathing in the familiar scent and trying to tell himself that it’s not creepy.

It has been two days and Liam just feels broken.

————

It has been six days since Theo left and they have FaceTimed three times. Liam knows that the only reason that they’re doing it is so that Theo can see Allie and Liam can’t help the smile that forms on his face every time that Allie’s face lights up when she sees Theo on the screen. He also can’t help the way that his heart aches when he sees Theo on the screen.

They have been civil every time that they have talked. The conversation has mostly stayed geared towards Allie but it seems to flow better now that they are no longer tip toeing around one another the way that they had been in the days leading up to Theo leaving. It is still a little awkward sometimes but every time that they FaceTime the conversation seems to get a little bit easier. It just makes Liam miss him even more.

————

It has been eight days and Liam can’t help but wonder when it will start getting easier. He tries to keep his mind off of Theo as he sits in the living room with Allie on his lap while he reads to her. She is looking at the pictures in the book with wide eyes and mumbling along in baby gibberish when Liam hears a word that he recognizes.

“Dada,” she says happily and he thinks that it is just part of her gibberish and she didn’t actually mean to say it until he hears it again and when he looks at her he realizes that she is no longer looking at the brightly colored pages of the book. She is now looking directly up at Liam.

“Dada,” she says again and he knows how she means it this time. It breaks his heart a little bit that the word is being said to him and not to Scott. He knows that that part might never get easier.

“No, Lee-uh,” he starts before being cut off by another, “dada!”

“Yeah,” He finally says as he pulls the girl closer to him and gently rests his chin on top of her head, without putting any actual weight on it, “Yeah, Al. I’m your dada,” he smiles softly.

“Dada!” She says again and he pulls away to look down at her but this time she isn’t looking at him. This time she is looking to the right, where a framed photo of Liam, Theo, and Allie sits on the end table. As he follows her line of sight he knows that this time he isn’t the one that she’s talking about.

“Yeah. Yeah Theo is your Dada too,” he says softly, as he holds her even tighter. It’s as if he has given her the exact confirmation that she was looking for because she just smiles and turns away from the picture, turning back to the book that Liam is holding. He goes back to reading but his mind stays on what just happened.

Allie just called him and Theo dad and he can’t help but wish that Theo had been here for it.

————

It has been ten days when Liam notices that the sweatshirt smells more like him now than it does like Theo. 

———-

It has been twelve days and he still misses Theo. He also misses having a second person around to help with everything. He knows that he and Theo had gotten a daily routine down but he didn’t know exactly how important that routine was until half of it was gone. The scheduling is a lot harder with just one person and he knows that his friends that are in town would gladly help but he feels bad asking. So after twelve days he is exhausted and a little bit frantic as he tries to figure out a new routine without the constant presence of another person.

He has just gotten Allie down for a nap when the doorbell rings. Liam races to answer it before the person can ring it again and wake up Allie. As he opens the door he is getting ready to quietly scold the person on the other side of it about ringing the doorbell while a baby is napping. As soon as he opens the door, before even looking up he is hit with an all too familiar scent, a scent that he missed, and the words die on his tongue as his head snaps up.

“Theo?” He says a little breathlessly as he takes in the sight of the boy that he has spent the past twelve days missing, “I thought you weren’t supposed to visit until the end of the month. What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you,” Theo responds, sounding a bit nervous. Liam just opens the door wider to let him in and they walk silently into the kitchen.

“What did you want to talk about?” Liam asks, making sure that none of his emotions are given away by his face or his voice.

“I’m so sorry Liam,” Theo begins, “I’m so sorry about everything. I was just - I was scared,” at this Liam cuts him off.

“You don’t think I was scared?”

“You’re braver than me, Li,” Theo replies with words that Liam definitely never thought that he would hear coming from the other boy. “You took on raising Allie almost fearlessly. You stepped up so fast when you found out that it was what they wanted and it was all I could do to follow your lead. But, dammit Li, I was terrified and not just of raising Allie but of raising her with you,” at this Liam just raises a questioning eye brow so Theo continues, “I had a crush on you ten years ago. I told you that and over the years my feelings for you have sort of... faded in and out but they never went away, not really and as soon as I heard that we were supposed to do this. To live together and raise Allie I knew that I didn’t stand a fucking chance. I knew that I was going to fall in love with you,” Liam’s breath catches at the words but he doesn’t say anything back.

“And I did,” Theo continues, “I fell so hard for you, Liam and that was terrifying. My life was easy before all of this. I had a good job and a great best friend who was my favorite person in the world and yeah maybe I had a thing for you but at that point I knew that you would never return those feelings so it was easy enough to ignore. But then overnight, my favorite person was ripped away from me and I was handed this huge responsibility of raising her child and on top of all of that I couldn’t get away from you anymore. It’s like I was consumed by you and suddenly I felt the shift. You became my favorite person but in a very different way than she had been. You and Allie became the two most important things in my life and I was terrified. I have never in my life had as much to lose as I did when I had you and Allie. I was so worried about losing both of you but then I ended up pushing you away,” Theo says sadly and Liam thinks that he wants him to respond but Liam can’t find the words, almost can’t believe what he is hearing so he just stares.

“I thought that the job would be enough,” Theo continues, “I thought it was what I wanted. It’s what I would have wanted before. It was a better job and a fresh start away from this damn town where nothing good ever seems to happen anyway. So I ran away. I ran away and I got what I always wanted and it sucked. But it took getting what I thought I wanted for me to realize that I already had everything that I could ever want right here, back in this stupid town where apparently good things occasionally do happen because this is where I met you and it’s where I fell in love with you and it’s where I got to see Allie grow so much already. And it’s where I want to be,” Theo lets out a sigh, “I want to be here with you, Liam and with Allie because I love you both more than anything and I was an idiot for ever leaving and for ever thinking that I wanted anything else. I made it twelve days without you, Liam and I barely even made it that long. I am so sorry Li. I never meant to hurt you or Allie but I know that I did. I don’t deserve your forgiveness but if you do decide to forgive me, if you decide to let me come back I promise that I will never leave again,” Theo seems to be finally finished with his very long winded and fairly sappy speech but Liam is still frozen, still processing all of the emotions that are currently swirling around inside of him, unable to speak, just staring at Theo.

Liam isn’t sure how long he stands there silently staring at a very nervous Theo but it must be a decently long time because Theo finally cracks and speaks again.

“Please say something,” he says, a bit desperately, “literally anything, Liam. You have every right to be mad at me. So please scream at me, yell, say something that you know will hurt me. Just please say something,” it sounds like Theo is practically begging at this point and Liam knows that he does need to say something but he’s still a little bit shocked so he stands there for just a moment more before he finally speaks.

“Allie called me Dada,” he says eventually, his voice coming out much steadier than he had expected.

“Damn, I know I said to hurt me but you really know how to hit a guy when he’s down, Dunbar,” he says, looking down. Liam can tell that he means it but he can also see a tiny bit of relief that Liam has spoken at all, he ignores the comment and continues.

“She called you Dada too,” at this Theo’s head snaps up to look at Liam and Liam can see what he thinks is the tiniest bit of hope shining in his eyes.

“And she’s right,” Liam continues, “you are her dad, Theo. We both are. We’re a family,” Liam can see Theo trying to keep himself from actually looking hopeful. 

“I think I get it now. Why they picked us, I mean. It didn’t seem like it made any sense at first but it does now. Somehow, we make sense. When you and me and Allie are together somehow we’re a family,” Liam says, finally verbalizing what he has spent the last twelve days realizing.

“I don’t know how the hell they saw that in us but they did. They wanted her to have a good family, one that would love her more than anything and one where she would fit in perfectly. I have no idea how they knew that that would be us but they did and they were right. Somehow the three of us fit together perfectly. We’re the family that they wanted for her and it hasn’t been the same without you here.”

“You mean that?” Theo asks still a tiny bit hesitant.

“Of course, Allie misses you and she loves you,” Liam leaves it at that for a moment before speaking again, “I missed you too and I also love you.”

“Yeah?” Theo asks and Liam knows that he isn’t even trying to keep the hope off of his face or out of his voice, as he takes a step closer to Liam.

“Yeah,” Liam says as he closes the distance and wraps his arms around Theo’s neck, pulling him into a kiss. Theo responds instantly, putting his hands on Liam’s hips and pulling him closer. When they finally break apart they’re both smiling and breathless. Theo leans his forehead against Liam’s.

“I can’t believe that Allie called me Dada and I missed it,” Theo says regretfully.

“That’s what you get, I guess,” Liam responds smugly but there’s no actual heat behind the words. 

“Did you mean it?” Liam asks quietly,before Theo can respond, “when you said you wouldn’t leave again?” He feels stupid for asking but he can’t help it. He needs to be sure.

“God, Liam, absolutely. I’m sorry I ever left in the first place. The last twelve days have been awful and I never want to go anywhere again unless you and Allie are with me,” Theo replies and Liam can tell that he means every word, “you’re stuck with me, Little Wolf.”

“Good,” Liam responds with a smile before leaning up to kiss him again.


	12. Chapter 12

“Did you find the candles?” Liam asks as he walks through the kitchen to where Theo is standing.

“Yeah, just finishing putting them in now,” Theo responds as he turns away from the cake on the counter and towards Liam, giving him a quick kiss.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Theo groans, “throwing big birthday parties for babies is so stupid. Do you know how slim the chances of her actually remembering this are?”

“I know I gave Scott so much shit about it last year,” Liam agrees, “I can’t believe that we actually turned into those parents.” 

“Mason tried to warn us this was happening,” Theo jokes lightly, rolling his eyes.

“It is nice to have everyone back in town for something though,” Liam adds and Theo nods in agreement before lighting the candles and picking up the cake. Liam follows closely behind him and they walk into the other room where all of their friends and family are waiting to sing to Allie. Theo and Liam place the cake in front of the now two year old Allie as everyone sings. As Liam looks out at the room filled with everyone that he cares about and then looks next to him at the two most important people in his life he can’t help but feel lucky. He knows that awful circumstances brought them here and that it has by no means been easy. He knows that there will be even more tough times ahead but he also knows that he will be ok because Theo will be there.

And he is.

Later on, Theo is there the first time that Allie asks them about her other parents and they explain what happened and tell her how much they loved her.

He is there to help Allie control her shifts on every full moon once she is old enough to grasp the concept of not turning into a literal wolf. He is also there to teach her how to turn into a full shift Wolf when she wants to.

He is there in their living room with just Liam and five year old Allie as he gets down on one knee and begins to tell Liam how much he loves him. He doesn’t even get to the actual question before Liam is screaming “yes!” And throwing himself at Theo so hard that he knocks him over and lands on top of him on the floor. As soon as he leans into kiss him Allie is covering her own eyes and telling them to “stop being so gross.”

He is there standing next to Liam at the altar as they both say I do with tears in their eyes. There’s an empty spot right in between Theo and Corey where Malia should be and one on Liam’s side that is meant for Scott. He is there at the reception as the two of them trade off spinning Allie around during the father daughter dance. And he is there to get both he and Liam drunk after that because “it’s our day, Liam we get to do what we want. Melissa is keeping Allie tonight so there’s no need to be responsible.”

When fifteen year old Allie comes home and tells them that she has a date with a boy at school he is there looking horrified and telling her “if he doesn’t keep his hands to himself you have my permission to full shift and rip his throat out with your teeth. Or actually just call me and I’ll do it.” And this time when there is a boy at the door and Theo is going over ground rules and asking about his intentions Liam does nothing to stop him. He can’t stop himself from laughing as a very red faced Allie announces that they are going and practically drags the poor boy out the door.

He is there when they decide to take Allie prom dress shopping, the two of them making it about three hours before getting overwhelmed and giving up with a frantic phone call to her Aunt Lydia begging her to come help.

And he is there for many other things, both good and bad, that happen after that but all of that is later on.

For now, it is Allie’s second birthday and Theo is here and as they stand holding hands and watching as Allie smashes cake into her face Liam could not be happier that Theo Raeken is a constant in his life.


End file.
